G'day from Down Under, and many, many congratulations on your wonderful website and this brand new forum, Clotilde.

I'm not sure how many forum members will even know where Adelaide is, but I think that we have some of the best restaurants and wineries, at least in Oz, if not the world. We have many wine growing areas just a few hours' drive from Adelaide, all producing world-class wines.

Growers' markets are becoming more popular here too, which is fantastic.

And on a more personal note, I'm growing zucchinis in my front garden, mixed in with my herbs and flowers!

Best wishes for a popular and successful forum

Judy

Last edited by Judy on Wed Sep 29, 2004 12:06 pm; edited 1 time in total

Hi Judy and welcome to the boards! As it happens, I just had a great conversation yesterday with someone who went to the Tasting Australia festival last year in Adelaide, and had wonderful things to say about the food scene there. Sounds like you have a great mix of people with different cooking cultures, and wonderful Toscane-like landscapes, too!

Hmmmm Judy - I think I might time our drive from Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road to be in Adelaide for the festival in October. Sounds like fun. And then maybe follow it up with a trip over to Kangaroo Island._________________Barbara

Joined: 29 Sep 2004Posts: 1196Location: buried under a pile of books somewhere in Adelaide, South Australia

Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2005 3:13 am Post subject:

That would be so great Barbara. And you could come and stay with us and we could visit Haigh's Chocolates and Central Market and eat out at .... so many different fantastic places we'll have to pull names out of a hat, and visit McLaren Vale wineries and Barossa Valley wineries, and cook and talk and if there's any time left, we could drop into some Tasting Australia sessions.

Joined: 18 Oct 2004Posts: 1654Location: Within view of Elliot Bay, The Olympics and every ship in the Sound

Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2005 10:10 pm Post subject:

Judy,
Can you recommend any of these Australian wines to me? We have been partial to Penfolds and a few others that escape me now. I have a pretty good idea about the wine culture down there from reading, it's just the tasting experience that is a little lacking._________________"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

Erin, I'm sure Judy won't mind if I jump in here with my favourites from Oz:
Wirra Wirra, Howard Park (especially their Madfish label), Xanadu (because they bought our family farm near Mararet River and planted it with vines and it looks fabulous), Tower Estate, T Gallant. I'm sure Judy will have others to recommend._________________Barbara

Joined: 29 Sep 2004Posts: 1196Location: buried under a pile of books somewhere in Adelaide, South Australia

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 4:32 am Post subject:

Barbara's knowledge of wine is far greater than mine - I just know what I like to drink.

My favourite Australian sparkling wine is NV Bridgewater Mill Sparkling Brut, the Jacobs Creek Reserve range is all very good and excellent value for money, but I'm not sure how easy they would be to get overseas.

Just this morning I had a conversation about Oz wines with a friend, but we were talking from a shareholder's point of view. He actually owns some Xanadu shares and has visited the vineyard which was Barbara's family's farm. We both hold shares in Cockatoo Ridge, which has its winery and cellar door in the Barossa Valley, which is just a couple of hours north of Adelaide. Their wines are inexpensive, but good drinking.

It has been interesting to watch Oz sparkling wines since they had to stop calling themselves Champagnes. It has made them market themselves more imaginatively and I think it's been a blessing in disguise. They can't hide behind the 'champagne' label any more, and in the process Australian wine drinkers have become more educated about what they're drinking, and what's actually in the sparkling wines. Do you have any thoughts on this, Barbara?

It's also interesting looking at bottle shops overseas. Australian wines take up such a tiny amount of space, competing with Chilean, Spanish, US, Italian and of course French wines.

Come quickly! I am tasting stars!"
-- Dom Perignon (1638-1714) at his first sip of champagne

we should drink of the stars daily..._________________"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson

Judy, I really don't feel qualified to comment on how Australians feel about sparkling wine. However here in NZ everyone uses the term "Bubbles. I suspect they think it sounds a bit more posh then sparkling wine. NZ also produces some great sparkling wines. Daniel le Brun, Cloudy Bay Pelorous and Jackson Estate are the ones I drink when I can't afford the real thing. And of course Australia does great sparkling shiraz - goes well with turkey for Christmas lunch.

Madameshawshank - I would drink the stars every day if I had unlimited money. I remember my first glass of Dom Perignon like it was yesterday and yet is was long ago in 1978. It was in Double Bay at a friends house and we had bought chicken and chips wrapped in paper from a take away shop and another friend arrived with a bottle of Dom. Actually a great food/wine match!_________________Barbara

Barbara Darling...surely Mireille Guiliano, CEO of Veuve Clicquot, has simply had enough....maybe she is the one soul in the universe who is able to say "it's someone else's turn"...to experience the real meaning of 'heaven on earth'!

go for it Barbara....CEO of Veuve....and since it's my suggestion, might I be soooooooooo bold to ask for a case of the stars every so otten!...yes Judy, I'll share....

almost time to drive to Katoomba...Siegfriend and I are seeing "Bluehouse" tonight....I just KNOW I'll be filled with the most exquisite music....energy to burn....harmonies of the angels...the loud and soft angels...my kind of celestial figures...

clinking of glasses_________________"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson

Joined: 18 Oct 2004Posts: 1654Location: Within view of Elliot Bay, The Olympics and every ship in the Sound

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 6:15 pm Post subject:

Great information all of you! I can tell my wine rack will be filling up very soon.

As far as wine from Oz taking up so little space, times are changing! When I was 21 there was a very small selection available, but just five years later I see huge sections dedicated to them. Finally Americans can find more than Alice White for their table.
I have had Jacobs Creek before, I think I enjoyed it. My journal will tell. I have heard of Xanadu, but have yet to try it out. Since there is such a connection I will try to find it this week!_________________"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

Erin, the hard part with recommending Australian wine is that there are a lot of "export-only" labels outside Aus. For some reason the distributors sometimes insist on packaging wines from well-known winemakers with silly names from the "shrimp on the barbie" school of labelling. i.e. rather than educating customers outside Aus about the actual label you and I who buy the export labels often get "kangaroo paddock" kind of names, which is doing everyone a disservice in my opinion.

[/rant]

I'd like to put in a plug for Lindauer sparkling from N.Z., (even though I'm an Aussie!). It's delicious.